Gemini
by TheManApart
Summary: Post-TRU and Lara's Shadow. Doppelganger, looking for her new purpose in life, seeks out Lara Croft; but together they find much more. Rated M for Lara/Doppelganger femslash lemony-goodness.
1. Chapter 1

**Foreword: Welcome to my first story to be published on this site (I hope you enjoy it!). I know, it's about damn time that I got around to publishing something of my own and feels good to finally do so. So, once again, enjoy! Please read and review, but no flames.**

**But first, I'd like to say that many thanks, and much love and respect, go out to both fishbone76 and Laciboj of deviantART. Their works provided the inspiration and plot-bunnies for this story, so kudos to them.**

**Also, "Tomb Raider" is a product of Core Design, Crystal Dynamics, and Eidos Interactive. I don't own any part of the franchise or the characters (but it would be totally cool if I did).**

Lara Croft flipped and twisted in mid-air and gracefully landed on her feet as she finished her evening workout with a flourish. But it didn't felt like any big accomplishment for her; it just felt like something she did everyday now.

Lara grabbed her towel, wiping off her face and took a swing of water from her trusty field canteen. Then she exited the gym and walked back to the main hall, reflecting once again on everything that had happened.

It had been three months since her business with Natla, during which time her manor had been bombed by the Doppelganger. The manor was almost completely done being rebuilt, and only a few things still needed to be finished up. Lara had specifically ordered that her gym be one of the first things that the workmen get started on rebuilding; even a day without exercise made Lara irritable and near-impossible to live with. Now the gym looked the same as it had before being blown up, along with a few new additions to it.

Life was also different since she had gone into Helheim. Ever since she had encountered the Thrall form of her mother (something that had been giving her the most horrific nightmares of her life, even worse than those when she lost her in Nepal) and learned from Natla that the fallen god-queen herself had killed her father, life seemed to lack as much mystery and challenges. Things seemed a little darker and a bit bleaker than before.

Fortunately, not all the changes had been bad; her old friend-turned-enemy Amanda Evert had called out of the blue yesterday and offered to meet and try to patch up old wounds stemming back to the debacle at Paraiso when they were both younger.

Lara walked into the main hall. Scaffolding stood erect around the foyer where the workmen had been working to repair the damage from the fire and explosion. The furniture had been too badly burned in the fire so new couches, chairs, tables had to be ordered. The painting of Lara's parents, Richard and Amelia Croft, that had been hanging over the fireplace had suffered only minor damage, but enough that Lara had hired a professional art restorer to fix it; Lara would do almost anything to preserve her parents' memories, especially now more than ever since learning the truth about her father's death and her mother's ultimate fate.

The workmen had all gone home for the night so the only people there were Winston Smith, her faithful butler who had been an employee since her parents were alive, and Zip, her resident tech specialist. These men were more than just her employees, they were her support team who would offer intelligence from the manor when she was exploring. But they were also her closest friends.

Zip walked up to his boss. "Hey, Lara."

"Hello, Zip," Lara answered her American friend and employee.

"You told me to let you know when the all the data was recovered?" The explosion hadn't caused much damage to the lab, but the fire had destroyed several hard-drives with important data on them. Fortunately, Zip had backed up the data to a secure off-site location as per the contingency plan that he and Lara had devised years ago. Not to mention that the incident gave him a legitimate excuse to buy all-new computer equipment.

"No problems with the retrieval, I take it?"

"Nope, and best of all we didn't lose anything. Meanwhile, the new security system is almost up and ready to be..."

_CRASH!_

A section of the foyer's skylight exploded downwards and shards of glass rained down to the floor. Lara jumped backwards to avoid being eviscerated while Zip ran to get out of the way.

A shadow jumped down from the skylight the second floor balcony, and then down to the hall floor. Lara gasped as she recognized the eerie features that were all-too similar to her own. The only differences were the paler skin with visible veins, the crimson red hair, the glowing sulfur-yellow eyes, and the black leather outfit. It was the Doppelganger!

Zip cursed under his breath. It was the...the..._thing_ that had murdered Alistair, and now it had come back to finish the job; he knew Lara never should have just let it live. He pulled his gun from his back holster, but before he knew it the Doppelganger was standing right next to him. He turned to face it, but it quickly dropped to a low-sweep kick and knocked Zip off his feet. It plucked the pistol out of his hand as he fell and smoothly pulled the slide off, rendering the weapon useless, and tossed the pieces to the side.

But Lara had her pistols out and pointed at the clone, her fingers on the respective triggers. Meanwhile, Winston stayed off to the side, unsure of how this would play out. Zip lay at the clone's feet, holding his breath and waiting for whatever was going to happen.

However, the Doppelganger just stood still, eyes locked with Lara and smiling that enigmatic smile.

Lara was just as surprised as everyone else by the Doppelganger dropping in, perhaps even more so. She hadn't expected to see it ever again after the last time she encountered it beneath Croft Manor. "What are you doing back here?"

"Natla is dead," the Doppelganger said with relish in its hauntingly melodic voice, unruffled by the guns pointed at it. It seemed to expect to be praised for destroying Lara's greatest enemy.

Lara cautiously nodded, keeping her weapons trained on her evil double. "Good. But then what are you doing here?"

All new emotions ran across the clone's face: uncertainty; confusion. "I...I am uncertain." It paused, considering its words. "I...I have no where else to go."

"So, you thought to come here."

"I am not something natural of this word, I know that. I was created for only two reasons: to destroy you, and to serve my former mistress. But Natla is dead, and I do not want to kill you. You are my template, and I feel you may be the only one capable of helping me to understand my place in this world."

Lara considered the Doppelganger's short speech for a moment. There was still a great part of her that wanted revenge for what the Doppelganger had done to Alistair; to destroy it in the most painful and sadistic ways possible, ways that defied her whole upbringing and views on life.

And yet, she found herself unable to. The Doppelganger had been under Natla's control when it blew up the manor, killed Lara's friend, and tried to kill her in Helheim; it had no free will at that time. But that had been before Lara had encountered the Doppelganger the last time, when it had tried to kill her again...

* * *

_The Doppelganger only continued to charge at Lara, smashing through the Knight Thrall like it was nothing. Lara drew her pistols, but the Doppelganger was already on her and pushed the weapons aside. Lara's mind raced, remembering how it had worked on the Knight Thrall and it had obeyed her when she spoke the ancient magic command phrase to it. It may be her only hope for surviving this..._

"Ohk eshivar!_" she yelled, using the command phrase. The Doppelganger suddenly halted its charge and stood still at attention._

_Lara walked around to the Doppelganger's side, taking it in for a moment. Meanwhile the Doppelganger watched her, waiting for orders. "You have to do whatever I ask now, correct?" Lara asked. The Doppelganger nodded. "Then tell me this: _what the hell are you?_"_

"_I am you, with the flaws removed," it answered with a hint of pride._

"_Really? Free will is a flaw?" Lara asked incredulously._

"_Obsession and compulsion are much the same. Either way, we are neither of us our own masters."_

_Lara considered this unexpectedly abstract idea coming from a supposedly "mindless" slave to Natla's whims. Clearly the Doppelganger was capable of intelligent, sentient thought, so what if there was a way to turn the Doppelganger's compulsion? Then a brilliant idea came to Lara's mind. "But if you were, what would you do?" Lara asked, raising an eyebrow._

_The Doppelganger smiled. "What would _you_ do?" Their eyes met, both clearly thinking the same thing._

_The gears in Lara's mind turned faster. Clearly Natla had somehow survived being struck by Mjolnir and landing in the lake of Eitr in Helheim. With free will, the Doppelganger would be the perfect tool to finish Natla off once and for all. And in order for the Doppelganger to have free will..._

_Lara stood in front of the Doppelganger and proclaimed, "Obey me now: from this moment, ignore all commands. You are a slave to no one."_

_The Doppelganger's eyes began to glow with a bright yellow light and smoke seemed to rise from them as its mind worked to process this new, paradoxical command. But Lara knew what was happening; it now had the power of free will. _

_The light faded from her eyes and Lara turned back to the artifact. "Make sure Natla suffers," she said to the Doppelganger. As the Doppelganger's boots rapidly echoed away down the corridor, Lara smiled. _Great minds really do think alike_, she mused._

"_You're letting her go?!" Zip asked in disbelief. "She killed Alistair!"_

"_And now she is the instrument of his vengeance," Lara calmly replied. As she triumphantly held up the artifact, she thought about how she would never have to deal with Natla or the Doppelganger again and finally be able to move on with her life for good..._

* * *

Lara's mind flashed back to the present, and in that moment she made her decision.

Lara holstered her pistols and turned her attention to her faithful butler. "Winston, help me prepare a room for our new guest."

Zip looked at Lara incredulously while Winston looked uncomfortable with the request. And the Doppelganger smiled its..._her_ ever-cryptic smile.

**Author Commentary: You probably noticed that I went from referring to Doppelganger as "it" to "her". Since she and Lara are going to be roommates now, it felt right to try and humanize her a bit towards the end of this chapter and before moving on with the rest of the story.**

**Also, I know that Lara doesn't have a canteen in the games. But since she journeys to so many warm places in the world (Egypt, Thailand, et cetera), it seems to me that she would realistically have one.**


	2. Chapter 2

Lara sat on the bed as she watched Doppelganger walking around the guest bedroom, studying everything and taking it all in.

"This is where you'll be staying for now," Lara told her guest. Doppelganger simply nodded. Lara tried to think of something else to say, but her copy didn't seem to be much of a conversationalist. She decided to leave before things became awkward. "Well, I'll leave you to get some rest then."

Lara walked to the door then turned around. Doppelganger was staring at the bed.

"What is it?"

"I've...never slept in a bed before."

"Do you sleep at all?" Lara asked curiously.

Doppelganger thought about it. "I don't know; I think I can. The only time I have ever slept at all was when Natla's pet sorceress tried to throw me into the Eitr but knocked me unconscious instead."

Lara nodded, finally understanding how Doppleganger had survived that. "Good night, then. If you need anything, my bedroom is right next door."

Lara closed the door behind her and turned to her support team. Zip was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, making a sincere effort to maintain a casual, neutral expression. Winston, meanwhile, was trying but failing to not wring his hands and shift his feet about.

Lara sighed. "If you have anything to say about this, then just say it."

Winston hesitated, trying to find the most polite and respectful words to voice his opinion on the matter at hand.

Zip, however, had no reservations about making his opinion known. "Are you crazy?! She blew up your home, killed our friend Alistair, tried killed you more than once, and now you actually want her sleeping right next door to you?!"

"She's not that kind of person anymore; she's only a threat to us if we make her one," Lara responded calmly.

Zip threw his hands in the air. "She...I mean, _it_ is not a person! It's a compulsive death machine on legs!"

Doppelganger sat cross-legged on her bed, listening to the argument outside. Her senses were more highly attuned than any normal human's and she could clearly hear every word being spoken. She knew perfectly well that Lara's companions had no love for her, that was obvious; it didn't trouble her in the least. But at least her template had stood up for her, and that truly meant something to her.

Zip quickly had enough arguing about this. "Lara...I...I just don't know if I can handle this, especially not right now. I need some time off, to think about things." And without waiting for a reply, he walked away.

Lara just watched him go and then turned to Winston. "And you?"

Winston hesitated with an answer, then sighed. "I served your parents for many years and then you when they died. I have always trusted your judgement, and I will again but not without reservations this time."

Lara placed her hand on Winston's shoulder. "I understand, Winston. I'm not going to ask you to do anything I would not do myself."

Winston smiled. "Except when dealing with your aunt's corgi."

Lara rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I've told you before, Winston, I am not afraid of it; I just can't kill it."

* * *

Doppelganger awoke to strange noises in the middle of the night. She sat up and looked around. She had been sleeping without getting under the sheets and covers, and had only removed her boots. The bedside clock read 1:34.

She listened to the sounds for a moment, but couldn't make them out. She decided that someone should investigate, and sat up from the bed and slipped her boots on.

Doppelganger opened the door and poked her head out. Lara had insisted that no one stand guard outside Doppelganger's door tonight. She walked out into the hall and followed the sound until she got to Lara's bedroom door. She put her ear to the door and listened; the sounds were coming from in here.

She opened the door to Lara's bedroom and looked inside. It was a large, spacious room with a living area in the center and a walk-in closet off to the side. But what got her attention was what was happening in the bed area. Doppelganger quietly walked over to the side of Lara's bed and looked down at her template. Lara was under the covers and was quietly moaning and crying in her sleep while tossing and turning.

"Mother...mother..." Lara quietly sobbed in her sleep.

Since being freed by Lara, Doppelganger had been feeling many new emotions and now felt a whole new one: compassion. She wondered if there was anything she could do make Lara feel better. She reached out to touch Lara's shoulder.

Lara's eyes snapped open and she bolted upright as soon as Doppelganger's hand touched her. She looked around in alarm to see the glowing yellow eyes looking down at her.

"Are you alright?" Doppelganger asked.

Lara sat up in bed and turned on her bedside light while she quickly wiped the tears from her eyes. "What are you doing in here?"

Doppelganger sat down on the bed next to Lara. "I heard a noise coming from here, and I thought someone should see what it was."

"I was having a nightmare," Lara explained.

"And it was about your mother."

Lara hesitated. "Yes," she answered as a fresh tear rolled down her cheek.

Doppelganger considered this. "I am...sorry," Doppelganger answered awkwardly, the words new to her.

A thought occurred to Lara. "Do you dream?"

"I was dreaming while I slept. I dreamt of the last time I saw Natla."

Lara looked at Doppelganger. "What happened?" she asked, eager to know about Natla's last minutes.

Doppelganger smiled...

* * *

"_Looks like the device suffered some damage after all," Doppelganger mused, her Lara-like wit showing as she looked down at her former mistress, who was now trapped under the pod and starting to be consumed by Eitr._

"_You?!" Natla asked in shock. "Get this thing off me!" Doppelganger didn't move; she just smiled. "_Ohk eshivar!_ I order you to help me!" _

_Doppelganger remembered what her template had said, about how she was no longer a slave, and made no move to help Natla. Doppelganger just continued to smile and watch Natla be destroyed._

_Natla began to panic as the Eitr spread over her and she began to smolder. "No! I command you to lift this off of me! _I command you! Do you hear me?! Ohk eshivar! You must obey me! Ohk eshivar!" _Doppelganger still didn't move and Natla grew more desperate. _"Thralls, come to me! Help! No! Nn...!"_Natla trailed off into gargling as she drowned in and was agonizingly consumed by the Eitr while looking up at her former slave._

_And all the while, Doppelganger just smiled her cryptic smile that was so very much like Lara's..._

* * *

"As you said, make sure she suffers," Doppelganger concluded. She thought back to Natla's last orders for her, that as soon as she killed Lara she was to commit suicide because Natla never wanted to see the face of Lara Croft ever again. It only seemed appropriate that the very last thing Natla ever saw was her arch-rival's face before she was destroyed.

As Doppelganger finished her story, Lara sat back against the bed stand thinking. Somehow, knowing how Doppelganger had killed the demon who killed her father and manipulated her with her mother's memory seemed to take a great weight off shoulders. All of a sudden, life didn't seem as bleak as it had a few hours ago.

Lara suddenly hugged Doppelganger, who flinched in surprise but then relaxed and hugged Lara back. Lara eased off and smiled at her clone. "Well done, Doppelganger. Thank you."

Doppelganger smiled proudly. "No, thank _you_, Lara, for freeing me." She got up to go back to her bedroom.

"Wait, Doppelganger. Will you...stay here with me tonight?"

Doppelganger thought about, then shrugged and kicked off her boots. She lay down next to Lara who turned off the bedside light and got back under the covers. Doppelganger snuggled up next to Lara and wrapped her arm around her like Lara was a teddy bear. Lara had to admit that she felt a definite comfort lying in Doppelganger's arms, and she soon fell asleep.

There were no more nightmares for Lara Croft that night.

**Author Commentary: If you're wondering about the corgi thing, it's a throw-back to the older Core-era Tomb Raider; Lara's greatest fear was listed as her great-aunt's Welsh corgi.**


	3. Chapter 3

Winston was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for Lara. A whole other issue was finding out whether their new guest ate anything at all; but just in case she did he made more than usual.

Winston turned around and almost screamed as he was instantly confronted by Doppelganger, who had somehow snuck up right behind him and had been standing there for who knew how long.

"Oh, um, good morning...ma'am," Winston stammered nervously. Doppelganger just stared at him with a smirk on her lips; for some reason this made her even more frightening. Winston was a veteran of the Second World War and had seen a lot of scary things then, but nothing back then could have ever prepared him for Doppelganger. Fortunately for him, Lara picked that moment to come into the kitchen.

"Doppelganger, stop scaring Winston," Lara playfully scolded.

Doppelganger grinned and backed off, letting Winston breathe again.

"Good morning, Winston. Where's Zip?" Usually he was already up and drinking coffee while working on some diagnostic in his tech center.

"He left, early this morning."

Lara sighed in exasperation and turned to Doppelganger. "Do you eat?"

Doppelganger thought about it, then smiled. "Let's find out."

They both went to the dining room and sat down at the table. Doppelganger eyed the silverware and platters in front of her, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do with it all. Winston soon came with a tea tray with tea cups and saucers and a pot of Earl Grey, which was Lara's favorite. Next he brought out a plate of breakfast for each woman. Lara had her favorite, beans on toast; as for Doppelganger, Winston decided to take a chance and give her the works including sausage, eggs, beans, toast, and mushrooms.

Doppelganger wasn't sure what she was supposed to do next, so she took one of the knives and speared a sausage, put it in her mouth and chewed. Her eyes went wide as the sweet taste of English meat hit her taste buds. She dropped the knife and used a fork to shovel the rest of her breakfast in her mouth as fast she could.

Lara and Winston stared at her with their mouths agape as Doppelganger scarfed down her breakfast. When she was done, Doppelganger finally realized they had been staring at her and looked at them. "What?" she asked.

Lara decided not to make an issue of it for now. "Nothing," she replied at she drank her tea.

* * *

After breakfast, Lara decided to workout in the gym with Doppelganger.

"Like what you've done with the gym," Doppelganger said as she admired the gym and its new additions. "I would have liked to have tried it out the last time I was here. So, what should we do first?"

"How about a sparring match and then maybe a race, Doppie?"

Doppelganger raised an eyebrow and smiled at Lara's new pseudonym for her.

Lara and Doppelganger moved into ready stances as they faced each other, their feet spread apart and hands ready to strike or parry any attack. Doppelganger made the first move with a roundhouse kick to Lara's head, which was quickly blocked, followed by a spinning kick that Lara avoided by jumping back.

Doppelganger came at her again with a flurry of punches before she dropped and knocked Lara's legs out from under her with a low-sweeping kick, but Lara somersaulted backwards in mid-air and landed on her feet ready for Doppelganger's next move. Doppelganger lunged at her but was knocked to the mat as Lara fist made solid contact with Doppelganger's stomach.

Lara dived to the mat and quickly got Doppelganger in a head-lock. Doppelganger grit her teeth as she tried to pull Lara's arm away but Lara's grip stayed strong. Doppelganger thought she was going to black out before she managed to squeeze a hand between Lara arm and her head. She loosened grip up enough and was able to throw Lara over her.

Lara lay stunned on the ground for a moment, which was more than enough time for Doppelganger. Doppelganger grabbed Lara by the arm and threw her into the gym pool. When Lara surfaced coughing and sputtering, she saw Doppelganger laughing so hard that she was holding her sides. Lara tried to be angry with her, but her furious facade fell away and she started laughing as well.

Finally, Doppelganger calmed down and asked, "Want to go again?"

Lara grinned as she climbed out of the pool. "Absolutely."

For the next four hours, Lara and Doppelganger sparred almost without any rest. Lara became better at anticipating Doppelganger's moves even with her shadow speed activated, and Doppelganger learned some new moves from Lara that she hadn't been originally programmed with. Afterwards, the had a light lunch and then decided to finish up their workout with a race on the obstacle course and equipment in Lara's gym; Lara won but Doppelganger insisted on a rematch. They spent the rest of the day on the course, ending in a tie with each winning fifty runs before they decided to call it a day.

Both Laras sat on the edge of the gym pool with their boots off and dipping their feet in the cool water while sharing the water from Lara's canteen. Sweat poured off their bodies and they were breathing heavily. They also wore very content smiles from their workout.

"That was fun," Doppelganger said handing the canteen back to Lara.

"How about a little Kendo next time?" Doppelganger looked at Lara with an eyebrow raised in interest and Lara smiled.

* * *

Lara wiped her face with her towel as she walked to her room for a shower. That was probably the most intensely enjoyable workout Lara had ever had, outside of raiding tombs. She felt better than she had in months; probably better than she had in years as a matter of fact. She would definitely have to work out with Doppelganger more often.

Lara noticed that Doppelganger's bedroom door was wide open. True to her curious nature, Lara peeked her head in. Doppelganger was standing by the window, looking outside at something that fascinated her.

Doppelganger briefly glanced over her shoulder at Lara. "What is that?" she asked, pointing outside at the sky.

Lara came up behind her and looked outside. "It's the moon."

"It's...beautfiul," Doppelganger breathed.

Lara was a bit curious why Doppelganger was asking about something like the moon when she remembered that Doppelganger had probably never seen it before. She had probably spent all her time indoors or was too busy doing Natla's errands to look up at the moon and enjoy it.

Lara looked at the moon again. She had to admit, the moon was quite beautiful tonight. Full and bright, it lit up the sky. She realized it had been some time since she had just taken the time to look at and enjoy the moon as well.

Lara looked without thinking at Doppelganger. The awed expression and moonlight on Doppelganger's face seemed to brighten it more than ever before. In fact, the moonlight actually gave her a rather..._exotic_look, Lara decided. It seemed to draw her in; being around Doppelganger made her feel the same comfort she had last night in Doppelganger's arms. But Lara managed to remember that she had been going to take a shower and decided to leave.

"Good night, then." Lara left Doppelganger's bedroom, still having these strange thoughts about her copy.

* * *

As Lara stood in the shower and let the hot water run over her body and wash away her fatigue, Doppelganger peeked in her head in to watch her template for a moment. Ever since she had first seen her, she had been very curious. There was something fascinating about the strong, beautiful woman that she was modeled after but she wasn't sure what exactly it was. For some reason being around Lara almost made her weak in the knees, like there was something unimaginably special about her.

Doppelganger went to bed, dreaming about Lara.

**AC: Once again, special thanks and credit go to Laciboj. His "Training" series was a god-send for this work-out part of this chapter.**

**The beans on toast is also a Core-era reference; it was Lara's favorite food.**


	4. Chapter 4

Three months later...

Lara pulled herself up the edge of the cliff, executing a graceful hand-stand in the process. "Welcome to Kalipalu," she told her support team over the radio. "She's a lovely example of an uncharted island that hasn't been inhabited in centuries; just the way I like them."

Lara heard a pair of boots behind her and turned to see Doppelganger standing there. She smiled. "What took you so long?"

"I took the scenic route," Doppelganger said with her own smile. "They should learn to make cliffs more accessible for new visitors."

"It's not their fault you insist on making everything as challenging as possible for you," Zip said over the radio. Zip eventually came back to the manor and had developed a grudging acceptance for Doppelganger since she had come to live with and work alongside Lara.

Bantering aside, Lara was thankful to have Doppelganger with her on this latest expedition to the Pacific island of Kalipalu. Not long after coming to live with Lara, she had decided to take Doppelganger with her on an expedition to Egypt. Ever since then, they went all of Lara's adventures together.

They made a perfect team. Doppelganger's shadow powers made her stronger and faster than almost any foe they could ever expect to face. Lara's experience, archaeological and anthropological knowledge, and natural cunning made sure that they bypassed most of the deadly traps and solved the tricky puzzles they encountered in the tombs.

"A jaunt to paradise; why don't we get to take vacations like this?" Zip griped as he observed the lush, tropical fauna over the camera.

"Perhaps when you've finally built up that vacation pay I'll let you," Lara replied with a good-natured smile.

"This isn't some vacation, Zip," Amanda Evert coolly reminded him as her voice over the radio. "This island may be key to understanding the Maori expansion throughout the Pacific Rim." Amanda had joined Lara's support team shortly after Doppelganger had come to live with Lara, filling Alistair's role as a sort of penance for both herself and Lara. Amanda was still very much into the ancient mysticism behind archeology, but Lara nonetheless valued her for her encyclopedic knowledge and unconventional view; if there was anything Lara had learned from tomb raiding, it was that even ancient mysticism held a fair deal of truth. Amanda had had some reservations about being anywhere near Doppelganger as first, but quickly got over them.

"Good to hear back from you, Amanda. Were you able to find out anything else about the temple?" Lara asked.

"A few things, thanks to your friend Nishamura. In 1943, the Japanese Imperial Army stumbled upon the Maori temple on this island and the Emperor himself sent a team of archaeologists to uncover any mysteries the temple might have. They didn't find anything of great value and project was abandoned shortly before the Japanese surrendered the Allies."

"How fitting that we should finish what they started," Doppelganger remarked.

"You said it," Zip said.

* * *

After a quarter-mile, Lara and Doppelganger came to the temple. The entrance looked like any Maori temple that could be found in New Zealand with its white walls and red ridgepoles; the rest was built into the side of the mountain.

As Lara and Doppelganger entered the temple, they looked around. The walls showed some evidence of excavation, but nothing recent. There were still some tools and crates with Japanese characters scattered about and a threadbare Empire of the Rising Sun flag hanging on the wall.

Lara stepped up to the walls and examined them. "This is as far as the Japanese archaeologists came."

"Be careful, Lara," Amanda Evert said over the radio-link. "I've been reviewing these Maori texts more closely here and, if I'm reading these correctly, they left four guardians to protect the treasure."

"Right, Amanda. Thanks." Lara looked around the room; there was something she was missing here but she didn't what yet.

As Lara walked across the floor, she felt something strange about the floor. She crouched down and ran her hands over the section of the floor; it was different from the rest of the floor, as though it had been patched over at some point. She smiled. "I see; the archaeologists spent all their time studying the wall of the temple, but they never thought to study the floor."

With a single, powerful punch Doppelganger smashed open the floor section, revealing a passage way downwards into the mountain. Both explorers smiled and climbed down.

They soon came to a long corridor with the walls and floor covered with moss. Lara instinctively knew there was a trap here; she motioned for Doppelganger to hang back a moment while she examined the corridor. She picked up a large rock and rolled it across the moss-covered floor. Almost instantly, overlapping rows of spears shot out of the walls and floor, ready to impale anyone unlucky enough to be standing there. One poor fool had already been impaled, his skull stuck on one spear while the rest of his bones were held together by mere wisps of flesh. After a moment the rows of spears retracted.

Lara examined the corridor again; as far as she could tell, there were no lips in the wall, no loose stones to climb, nothing they could use to avoid the spears.

"Any ideas?" Doppelganger asked.

"None that don't involve being skewered," Lara answered dryly.

Doppelganger grinned. "Then it's my cue."

Doppelganger became a blur as she activated her shadow powers and ran across the mossy floor. The spears began to shoot out again but she was ready for them. The first row came out of the floor, which she destroyed with a single blow. The next two came out of the walls and were scattered by two spinning kicks. Another row came out the floor and Doppelganger simply ran through it. The last rows came out of the walls and, with a final punch to each row, they were destroyed as well.

"Show-off," Lara said as she looked at the broken spears all about the room. Doppelganger smirked.

* * *

A minute after the spear room, they came to a massive chamber. The room was circular with a domed roof supported by four massive wooden ridgepole pillars. The massive room was divided up into four quadrants symbolizing the sky, the sea, and the land and rivers of New Zealand. In each quadrant stood a huge statue facing inward. In the center of the room was a stone pedestal with something on it.

Doppelganger walked around the statue in the sky quadrant. "These must be the guardians Amanda mentioned," she observed. The guardian statue appeared to be some kind of bird-like demon creature with stone wings spread wide.

Lara nodded as she studied the other guardian statues. The sea guardian resembled a giant shark with legs, the land guardian a massive tuatara lizard, and the river guardian a enormous demonic catfish with legs.

Lara and Doppelganger walked up to the pedestal in the center of the room. There was a stack of carved wooden tablets with ancient Maori script on them. "This is it," Lara said. "A complete history of the ancient Maori people."

Before Lara could stop her, Doppelganger grabbed the tablets. A low groaning sound began to come from the statues. Lara sighed in exasperation and looked at Doppelganger who shrugged.

The statues' eyes glowed as they began to come to life around them, each shaking off ages of dust and advanced hungrily on the adventurers. Unfortunately for the statues, they had been created to deal with ordinary grave robbers; both Lara and Doppelganger were far from anything ordinary.

Lara and Doppelganger climbed up on the pedestal and stood back-to-back, their pistols drawn.

"What do you think? You take two and I'll take two?" Doppelganger asked.

"Seems fair enough." Lara replied. With that, both adventurers leapt off the pedestal to face their attackers.

The sky guardian came at Doppelganger with a swipe of one of its stone wings, but Doppelganger wasn't there anymore. Her shadow-speed kicked in, Doppelganger was behind the sky-guardian in an instant and knocked off one of the wings with a spinning air kick. The stone golem cried out and wheeled around but Doppelganger was behind it again, knocking off the other wing. The creature fell to its knees and Doppelganger finished it off with a solid blow to its head, turning it to dust and rubble.

The shark guardian snapped at her with its giant stone teeth. Doppelganger poured her pistol ammo into it but it just kept coming. Finally, Doppelganger found her mark as a round hit the creature in one of its eyes. As the golem staggered in sudden confusion from its diminished sight, Doppelganger put another round in its other eye. It howled in agony and blindly ran into a wall and was knocked to the ground, and Doppelganger finished it off with a powerful kick.

Meanwhile, Lara was busy with the other two guardians. She ran and rolled, avoiding the lizard and the catfish. The stone lizard whipped its tail at her but Lara was too quick and avoided its lashings. Fortunately, Lara was able to get between the two guardians and just as the catfish charged her and the lizard whipped its tail at her, Lara leaped out the way and the tail shattered the catfish.

Half of the golem's tail was also destroyed and the guardian roared in pain and fury. In its rage, it charged Lara as she fired her pistols at it but it kept coming. Lara jumped out of the way and the creature charged right into one of the ridgepole pillars which smashed it to dust and cracked the pillar in half.

There was a sudden rumbling as the roof and walls began to shake because of the broken pillar. Both adventurers knew it was time to leave and sprinted out of the chamber.

They ran down the passageway, through the broken spear room, and could see the light when suddenly a chunk of debris and dirt fell on Lara and buried her.

For the first time her life, the Doppelganger felt pure, genuine fear. Her template, the woman whom she had come to love and respect as a best friend and surrogate big sister, might be dead. She could hear Zip and Amanda yelling in her ear over the head-set, but she had mentally tuned them out; she had something more important to focus on.

Doppelganger's shadow powers kicked in stronger than ever before. She ran to the fallen debris and began frantically throwing chunks of rubble off to the side. She quickly found Lara and cradled her in her arms. Doppelganger ran out of the tunnel, into the temple, and then out into the sun where she lay Lara down on the grass and knelt down to examine her injuries.

Lara was alright. She had minor cuts and bruises but nothing serious. The bright ocean sun made her blink her eyes open and she looked up at her rescuer.

"Lara?! Lara?! Are you alright?!" Zip called over the headset, watching the images from the cameras.

"I'm fine, Zip. I just need a moment." And with that she switched off her headset radio and camera as well as by Doppelganger's.

They stared deeply into each other's eyes. Lara couldn't help but be mesmerized by Doppelganger's amber eyes which seemed so beautiful just now; Doppelganger felt like she was falling into Lara's lovely chestnut brown eyes.

"I'd thought I had lost you there," Lara said.

"So did I." With that, acting purely on instinct, Doppelganger leaned down and gently kissed Lara.

As Lara felt Doppelganger's lips grace her own, she realized something: she didn't just love Doppelganger like a friend; she was _in love_ with Doppelganger. She no longer saw Doppelganger as some kind of demon, but now as an angel; her angel.

Doppelganger had similar thoughts. She had been unable to stop thinking and dreaming all day and night about her template since she came to live with her, and now she finally understood why: she was in love with Lara.

"I love you, Doppie. I love you more than anything."

"I love you too, Lara. I will never stop loving you." And Doppelganger leaned down to kiss Lara again.

For the two women on a mountainside on an island in the middle of Pacific Ocean, time and space suddenly had no meaning.

**AC: Finally, what you've all been waiting for!**

**I don't know if Kalipalu is a real place. Also, you may remember Nishamura as the Lara's contact and friend from the Tokyo level of "Tomb Raider Legend". And if there are any raised eyebrows about the catfish, just remember that they're carnivorous and can be vicious fuckers!**


	5. Chapter 5

It was late afternoon when Lara opened the doors to Croft Manor and stepped inside into the main hall, followed closely by Doppelganger who closed them behind her.

"Zip? Winston? Amanda?" Lara called. No one answered, not that Lara expected anyone to anyways; she had given her support team the next three days off with pay. After what happened back on Kalipalu, she and Doppelganger had decided they needed to talk about what happened as soon as they got back to the manor. Just to make sure, she called them one more time; again, no response.

Lara turned and smiled at Doppelganger. "I guess no one's home."

Doppelganger grinned. "Good."

Lara advanced hungrily on Doppelganger who caught her, spun her around, and pushed Lara up against the wall. Their mouths found each other in a searing, passionate embrace. Their kiss was slow and deep; a kiss of true love. They hadn't had a chance to do this again since leaving the island, and now that they were finally alone again it felt incredible letting all these emotions out. Doppelganger's hands roamed and caressed Lara's entire body while Lara wrapped her arms around Doppelganger's neck.

Lara briefly broke the kiss to look into Doppelganger's eyes with a grin. "I'm glad we had this talk."

Doppelganger grinned back as her strong hands lifted Lara up. Lara wrapped her legs around Doppelganger's waist and their kiss intensified.

* * *

Lara and Doppelganger lay side by side on the couch, hugging each other close and snuggling against each other. They had spent several hours in a deep make-out session which had slowed down to sharing short, sweet kisses.

"Well, we have the whole manor to ourselves. What should we do with our time?"

Doppelganger thought for a moment, then smiled as an idea came to her. "Let's go for a swim." She rose from the couch and walked to the door to the pool, losing her boots along the way.

Lara smiled too as she got up and headed to the stairs. "Alright, just let me go to my room and get my swim suit on."

Doppleganger looked back at her and grinned wickedly. "Who said anything about needing swim suits?" With that, she undid her belt and shook off her pants as she disappeared behind the door and into the hall to the pool.

Lara watched her go, somewhat stunned by her clone's sudden risque attitude. But she shrugged and headed for the pool as well. As she walked through the hall, she raised her eyebrow at the clothing scattered about.

Lara entered the pool area. The lights were off, but the moon was out and shone enough light through the skylight for Lara to see Doppelganger was already in the pool.

Doppelganger smiled as Lara entered. "Come in Lara. The water feels wonderful."

Lara shrugged, then undressed. Then she jumped into the pool with a graceful swan dive.

"Now who's the show-off?" Doppelganger asked with a grin as Lara surfaced.

Lara laughed. "A late night swim in the moonlight; nothing better."

Both women swam together for an hour, chatting about their adventures together. Afterwards Lara and Doppelganger climbed out of the pool and sat up on the edge. For a moment, Lara and Doppelganger stared at each other's nude bodies with new-found feelings.

"Lara, I love you. And I want you to experience how much I love you. But,..." Doppelganger looked down.

"But what?"

"I've...never done anything like this before."

Lara smiled and brought Doppelganger's head up to kiss her. "It's alright; neither have I, but this just feels so right. Just follow your instincts, Doppie."

She kissed her lover, her hand wandering to and cupping one of Lara's breasts. Encouraged by Lara's delighted sigh, Doppelganger lowered her head to Lara chest and took one of Lara's nipples in her mouth. Lara sighed and moaned in pleasure at Doppelganger's treatments while Doppelganger moved her lips to Lara's other breast.

Doppelganger slid into the pool, pulling Lara's hips to the edge of it. She now a clear view of Lara's beautiful core, but she didn't want to rush things. She kissed the insides off Lara's thighs before diving into Lara's depths.

Lara lifted her legs onto Doppelganger's shoulders, admiring the contrast between her tanned skin and Doppelganger's ivory paleness. She let her head roll back and arched her back with her arms supporting her from behind as she wrapped her lags around Doppelganger's head.

Doppelganger gently blew on Lara's labia, which got an excited cry from Lara. She started licking up Lara's delicious juices, and Lara moaned out loud as Doppelganger slid a finger into her followed by another.

Lara's eyes rolled to the back of her head as she began moaning louder and panting faster. She started clawing the floor tiles and humping her waist forward to Doppelganger's face, trying to get more of Doppelganger's tongue and fingers in her.

Doppelganger worked faster, sensing Lara's impending orgasm. Then she pulled out both fingers before thrusting them right back in along with a third digit.

Lara's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she came hard and screamed in pure ecstacy at the top of her lungs, "DOPIEEEEEE!!!"

Lara collapsed back on to the floor, her body limp and twitching in post-orgasmic bliss with her eyes closed as she savored the feeling. Doppelganger climbed out of the pool and straddled Lara, looking down at her.

"Are you alright?" Doppelganger asked. Lara's immediate response was grab Doppelganger's face and pull her down into another hard, searing kiss. Doppelganger eagerly reciprocated, their tongues battling for dominance.

After a minute, Lara broke the kiss and rolled on top of Doppelganger to look her lover straight in the eyes and whispered, "My turn."

With that, she lowered her head to Doppelganger's breasts, licking one before taking it her mouth before moving on to the other one. Doppelganger's gasps and moans spurring her on, she buried her face in Doppelganger's breasts, licking the area between them up to the hollow of Doppelganger's neck. kissing Doppelganger around the navel while her hands kneaded Doppelganger's breasts. Then she slid into the pool and pulled Doppelganger to her. Lara examined Doppelganger's core a moment before tasting it.

Lara Croft had been all over the world, and she had sampled many special delicacies and dishes from dozens of different cultures, including some that most people had never even heard of before. But she'd never thought that she would be tasting the sweetest, most delicious thing ever in her own home, and that it would be Doppelganger's nectar.

Doppelganger moaned and put her hand on the back of Lara's head, her fingers twisting into Lara's hair and pulling her closer. As she moaned and panted, her eyes began to glow brighter.

Lara licked harder and faster, savoring Doppelganger's sweetness and sounds of pleasure.

Doppelganger's eyes grew brighter and brighter. This was her very first orgasm, and she could barely contain herself. She moaned and thrashed on the pool edge, calling out Lara's name and pledges of love.

Lara continued her treatment on Doppelganger, enjoying her lover's moans and cries of pleasure. Finally, she slipped a finger into Doppelganger for the coup de grace.

Doppelganger sucked in a breath and let loose a wordless scream of pleasure that seemed to shake the entire room. Her eyes were wider and glowed brighter than ever before, and her body quaked with pleasure before she went limp.

Lara climbed out of the pool and slid up to Doppelganger. Doppelganger was still breathing heavily and eyes staring dreamily into space as their glow slowly dimmed. Lara gently kissed her lover all over her neck and face as she waited for Doppelganger to come down from Cloud Nine. After Doppelganger recovered, they kissed again; gently at first, but then it turned deep and passionate once again. They broke the kiss and caressed each other's faces, looking deep into each other's eyes and souls.

"I love you," Doppelganger whispered with a smile.

Lara smiled, unshed tears of joy in her eyes. "And I love you."

They resumed kissing before Lara broke it. She undid her ponytail, letting her long brunette hair loose. Doppelganger followed suit, undoing her braid and shook her head, letting her luscious red hair loose as well.

"And we still have the whole night ahead of us to show how much we love each other."

**AC: Let me just make something very clear real quick; yes, I realize that this is a very erotic chapter of the story. But this is not porn or smut, because I don't make that. I'm an artist, and this is art; this story is ultimately about two people who love each other coming together for an act of true love and passion. If you don't like it, then you can just piss off; no one's making you read this.**

**Anyways, once again, very special thanks go to fishbone76. Her art was the primary inspiration for this chapter. Where would we be without her?**


	6. Chapter 6

Lara awoke as the sunlight streamed across her face into her bedroom, her eyes slowly opening. She looked around slowly and then looked down, and smiled. Intertwined around her naked body was the beautiful, naked body of her new lover, Doppelganger.

Lara smiled again as she recalled the events of last night. After what happened in the pool, they decided to take their lovemaking up to Lara's bedroom. It had been wild, uninhibited, and intensely passionate, lasting for hours before they had fallen asleep exhausted. It had been, unquestionably, the most sexually rewarding and satisfying time she could have ever hoped to have.

Lara shifted gently, but Doppelganger's highly attuned senses felt her stir anyways and her eyes snapped open to look up at Lara.

Lara smiled down at her as she sat up on the bed and kissed Doppelganger on the forehead. "Good morning, my love," she whispered.

Doppelganger smiled back and snuggled up closer to Lara, wrapping her arms around Lara again. She lay her head on Lara's chest and gently kissed her breast. "Good morning, lover."

Lara cupped Doppelganger's chin and brought her head up for a real good morning kiss that lasted several minutes before Doppelganger broke it.

"So, what shall we do today?" Doppelganger asked.

"Well, Zip, Winston, and Amanda still have two more days off."

Doppelganger grinned. "We'll just have to make the most of it then, won't we?"

Lara smiled back. "Yes, we will."

Doppelganger sighed contentedly and closed her eyes as she cuddled up closer to her lover, savoring the warmth and comfort of Lara's body. She smiled as she listened to the beat of Lara's heart, knowing it was slightly accelerated because of her. She now knew what joy and pure bliss were. This was the happiest she had ever been in her entire life.

She had truly found her place in this world; it was to be by Lara's side forever.

Lara smiled as she looked down at the woman she loved, gently stroking Doppelganger's blood-red hair. Despite how much Doppelganger's presence excited her, she was content just to lie here with her new-found love. Lara remembered a quote by the novelist Sir Hugh Walpole that she had read when she was a teenager. It went something like this:

"_The most wonderful of all things in life is the discovery of another human being with whom one's relationship has a growing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is the most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life._"

Lara smiled happily. She'd had her divine accident, and it was the most wonderful thing ever to happen to her.

**FIN**

**AC and Afterword: ****Well, there you have it! I hope you enjoyed. So please, write a review so I know this story didn't suck too badly. NO FLAMES PLEASE! (not yet anyways)**


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